Several technical adjustments have been made at Young Grow recently. Denny Threels is a grower at Young Grow, currently growing coarse vine tomatoes, unexposed, on 8.4 ha in 's-Gravenzande (in addition, they also have 6 ha in Tinte). To support that cultivation, Young Grow proceeded to purchase 4 induction carts of the BeMotion BeTrac1 type from Berg Hortimotive - not a new name for the grower, as they also already had 20 tubular rail cars from Berg.
Automation
"With induction carts, the wires of the system are milled into the concrete floor, so the cart follows the wire," says Denny. At Young Grow, the carts drive along the concrete path from the greenhouse to the processing area. "We used to have one hand cart, so there was always one employee driving back and forth. That is now automated, so we save labor."
Peace and quiet
The induction carts are pleasing, says Denny. "There is much more peace and quiet in the company now. You now constantly have a couple of carts going back and forth at a low speed, whereas before, you had someone constantly tearing back and forth to keep up in the peak season. This gives more peace of mind: there are fewer peaks, you have a more constant supply of tomatoes to the barn, and it also gives a greater sense of security. The carts drive at moderate speeds, on fixed row paths, so the risk of collisions is eliminated, especially as the BeTrac has a front safety system, so it always stops in time."
Denny explains how that works in practice. "A cart like this is waiting in the path, then up to eight harvest wagons full of tomatoes are latched behind it. The employee working there at the time directs the BeTrac1 towards the shed by pressing a button. It then goes to the processing area through a KOAT automation. The full boxes are pushed off by a robot, and then empty boxes are automatically put back on. It then drives the same route back again, all automatically."
Easy installation
The new BeTrac1 induction carts required a few modifications. "Only one cart was removed, and a line milled in," he says. In order to properly align Berg Hortimotive's carts and KOAT's processing line, the two companies were in close contact. As a result, the whole process went satisfactorily.
For more information:
Berg Hortimotive 
Burgemeester Crezéelaan 42a
2678 KZ De Lier
Tel.: +31 (0)174 51 77 00
sales@berghortimotive.com
Denny Threels
Young Grow
Noordlandseweg 85
2691KK ’s-Gravenzande
Tel.: +31 6 1314 5435
d@younggrow.nl